Religion is one of the most effective tools ever invented for manipulating the masses; preying on humans greatest fears and desires. It actively promotes divisiveness and distortion of reality for its own means.

So you are only half right; getting rid of religion won't put an end to bad people doing bad things. But, getting rid of religion will greatly lessen the means for doing bad things on a large scale in the name of religion. It is unlikely that something as powerfully corruptible and manipulative could ever take its place. Granted there are other systems and ideologies that can be abused, but none so frighteningly as religion.

Have you ever ridden deep pow? If you have never ridden pow and go to Silverton for your first experience, you might have a bad time. Wolf Creek is probably your best bet if you are booking a trip blind and can't wait for the 6-10 day forecast. Summit County (breck, keystone, copper) is the worst odds for pow. Vail/BC, Steamboat, Aspen, Crested Butte all have good odds. Steamboat is a great bet too. ( cat operations at steamboatpowdercats.com as well)

I have wide flat feet. I ride with K2 "T1" boots (w/boa inner lacing) and my toes and feet are very happy. It is a stiffer boot though so if you are a park rider you prob won't like them. But yeah everyone's feet are unique so try a few on until it feels right.

edit: also, I don't agree with people who say to get your boots a half size small or snug fit because they will pack out. I think first and foremost you don't want cramped cold feet. Then get a boot that has a good lacing system especially one that holds you ankle well. This is why i like the T1s with the boa on the inner boot sock. I can crank that down and my feet are not going anywhere while at the same time i bought them to fit well so my toes have wiggle room.

If you don't carve or race much and ride a lot of glades and/or pow, I rec'd getting a reverse-camber (rockered) board. They are a bit easier to maneuver in the trees and if you score a rare deep pow day, you will really love the reverse camber (no leg burn for one). I ride a K2 Gyrator (not to be confused with the vintage K2 Gyrator from the 80s) which has more rocker than most. They stopped making them last year but you can find used ones or older models (2008-2011) for sale on ebay, etc. I've heard the Capita Charlie Slasher is a similar good rocker board and cheap-ish ($400 new). for something even cheaper, I recall the K2 Raygun was reviewed well and has reverse camber. Again i think they stopped making them a year or two ago so look for sales.

Also, I think at 190 pounds, you can easily go up to length 163 or so. You'll have a more stable ride in general. I am 165 pounds and I've ridden around 162 length for many years.

Maybe I've watched too many magic shows, but I'm so paranoid there is some way for a blackjack dealer to cheat me; either thru slight of hand or even like pre-stacking a deck when i go to sit down at an empty table or ???. Am I crazy or are there ways for a casino/BJ-dealer to cheat a player?

There are an infinite number of things that one can believe in that cannot be verified by evidence. You can not prove i don't see a pink unicorn floating above my bed every night. Anecdotes of personal experience are not evidence. To date, god has revealed exactly nothing to anyone that can be verified outside of anecdotal evidence. The bar for proving the existence of god is conveniently pushed back further and further until it is outside the realm of observable reality. Religion is 100% pure faith. At that point, believing or not believing is of no consequence.

On the contrary, there are mountains of evidence proving a universe governed by a set of rules without any intervention by an outside entity. Most notably are the geological and cosmological record and evolution demonstrated clearly by the DNA record. It is also clearly apparent that religion has been invented by man and there is also evidence to suggest that people who make supernatural claims are indeed lying or delusional. It is also clear that human societal behavior propagates stories and tales in a virus-like fashion. This is a solid theory to explain for the rampant explosion of various religions throughout the world. Your belief in heaven could be substituted with an infinite number of other fairy tales.

It is not a bold statement. It is a fair statement. Heaven is an extraordinary claim with no evidence. If someone says to you they can jump off a cliff and levitate by mental power alone, it is not bold of me to say 'No you won't, and you will die if you step off of this ledge." If there was even a shred of evidence for heaven, then it would be a bold claim.

This is solid advice. If you ever think your mother-in-law has truly gone off the deep end, I'd suggest a long-term plan to slowly distance you and your family from them because it may not get better. Get the in-laws used to politely declining invitations to their events and family gatherings. Think about moving to a town that requires a plane flight to visit. Make it clear to them that any bad behavior will result in more distance. And yes blood runs thicker than water, so make sure your wife supports this. Family has a way of sucking you into obligations and bending your will. Being able to walk away and distance yourself and family from that manipulation is a good position to be in.

I think at a mere 5 weeks, this is expected. I had minor growing aches for a few months before my feet fully adjusted. I think it took about 8 months before I felt my achilles was stretched out to its proper length and elasticity. Everyone's body is different, too. Calf soreness is expected and easier to gage. Achilles soreness should only be minor. If your achilles gets moderately aggravated, you should probably give it a week or two of rest.

I can see how a religious person might take offense to this, but I think The_Jew's post was on-topic and he was just providing a back story. There is nothing obnoxious about stating when you started your path towards atheism. 15 y.o. here; I was too busy having fun to think about anything that serious as a kid.

But how would we know that is the end of the explanation of all that is? Just because we figure out exactly how our universe works, how it was created, etc, we can never know if there is yet more to the story. Calling that explanation 'god' does not fit the definition of god in its truest definition as creator of all that is, a concept i think that is impossible to exist in reality.

I always thought it funny to imagine a time where we figure it all out and how boring and disappointing that would be: "Welp, that's it. That's how it works. I'm bored. Now what?"